


Love is Kind

by banrionsi



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, It's a love story babes, prepare for yearning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:55:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28362021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/banrionsi/pseuds/banrionsi
Summary: You live a simple and peaceful life on Naboo, as a microbiologist. You are happy with your life, but all the same something is missing.Your lab often works with the GAR and Jedi Order. During one such collaboration, you meet Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, and the two of you realise what you have been yearning for.
Relationships: Luminara Unduli/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

Swiping the neck of the flask over the flame of your Bunsen burner one final time, you restuff the entrance of it with cotton wool and set it back into the heated water bath. As you seal the Petri dish shut with sticky tape your mind wanders, your hands on autopilot. Only four hours left until your workday ends, you sigh wistfully . At least you have some peace and quiet today - your lab colleague is off sick with a stomach bug. Well, that’s the official reason anyway. You’re sure it definitely has nothing to do with the handsome man who picked her up from work yesterday.

Soft rain patters gently against the windows running along the labs perimeter, and hazy golden sun filters underneath the blinds you’ve shuttered to block it. It slants its long rays across the floor to brush against the toes of your nonslip shoes and whisper hello. A bird has made his home somewhere nearby and he trills beautifully. If you had to guess, you’d hazard he’s tucked himself into the edge of a windowsill long ignored. Peaceful and undisturbed. Silently, you nod approvingly. Wise values.

You scan your agenda again and arch to crack your back with a groan. Not too bad today you must admit. Get a batch of petri dishes set, sterile and ready. Prepare molten agar for pouring tomorrow, because today you’ll use up all you have prepared in the water bath. Using preprepared plates, smear samples taken from the field techs and pop them in the cupboard to grow. A nice easy day all in all. Nothing strenuous or testing, just mindless calming work.

Honestly as much you grumble about coming into work, you actually like your job. Frankly, you have it made. Naboo is a gorgeous planet and so much like Terra that it often feels as if you haven’t left home at all. Your hours are exactly to your liking – six hours a rotation, five rotations a week. Often, you will analyse samples for the Republic garrison, figuring where a droid has come from by the microscopic fauna on its metal hide. You get in early and go home early so that your life is your own and your time is spent on yourself. 

Naboo values science much more than your own homeplace and the pay has garnered you a homely cottage with all your needs. Out back you have a pond and paved stone paths. The face of your house boasts a veranda with cuttings of succulents lovingly cared for by your sister as a going away present, your speeder tucked around the side. The countryside is filled with gorgeous features and bushes ripe with berries for picking. Yes, Naboos idyllic nature is exactly to your tastes.

Pipetting deionised water into a beaker, you reflect on your simple life. Some may likely think it boring. You aren’t one for danger and risk, preferring instead to keep your heart rate steady and your shoulders unburdened. You find your joy in the dawn chorus and a satisfying stroke of a paintbrush. You message your siblings and they send you silly little things to make you laugh and you call your parents on a Sunday. You take a shuttle home every few months for a weekend with everyone. You love your life, you can’t believe you’ve made it, and you are genuinely happy.

However, there’s still a “but”. “But”, there is still something that you crave more and more each night alone in your bed and as you cook dinner for one. You aren’t lonely per se, you go out with friends from work and everything, but-.

But-

Wouldn’t it be nice to be held? Wake up in someone else’s arms? Explore Naboo with someone by your side, admire a sparkling waterfall with fingers entwined in your own?

Breathing out slowly with slumped shoulders, you banish such wishful fancies from your mind with a soft murmur of “If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be”, and focus on your work.

The following day brings lashes of hammering rain and crackling flashes of brilliant white lightning. Misil hurries into the lab, soaked to the bone and springy ringlets dripping water onto her lab coat clad shoulders. She catches your eye with a faux glare. “Don’t even laugh” she warns, but her mouth twitches at the corner all the same. 

You shrug nonchalantly and smile gently at her, “I wouldn’t dream of it”.

Nodding in appreciation, she slaps on her protective glasses and wanders over to peer over your shoulder. She watches you scribble down today’s agenda from the holopad and you feel the exact moment she reads the point three dots down as she twitches behind you.

“Jedi?”. She hisses through her teeth in excitement and pats your shoulder. “Love that you didn’t put first on the to-do list. Playing it cool”.

A bright laugh spills from your lips and you lean back on your stool to wink at her. “I always play it cool”.

Conveniently in the exact same moment, you nearly tip backwards over your stool as you misplace your balance. Misil pretends she didn’t see and busies herself with wiping down her workbench. Closing your eyes, you internally thank the Maker for giving you the best possible lab partner you could have. 

You clear your throat with a quick cough and continue. “They’re coming with samples they need us to grow on the plates and identify. The droids are a different type than usual the holomail said, and they think it might be from a new factory. We’re aiming to identity the microorganisms on the droids shells and then have a look to see where those kind of organisms usually live. They’ll take it from there”.

Misil nods thoughtfully and sanitises her hands, rubbing over the blue gloves with deft hands. “Did it say who specifically is coming? Any that we’ve met before?”.

You check the holomail again and squint before shaking your head. “Nah, we’re meeting with a Master Luminara Unduli today”.

Your lab partner hums and begins to prepare the plates. “Hope the storm doesn’t cause them too much interference getting here. They sure picked a bad day to visit hm?”

Eyeing the dark sky and angry clouds outside, you couldn’t agree more.


	2. Chapter 2

Master Unduli is the most calming and yet intimidating person you have ever met. It is a strange combination but she wields it well. She greets you and Misil with a polite nod and a soft voice, and when she walks she barely makes a sound only for the whispering swish of her robes. She sets the droid in its clear protective bag onto your work bench with careful and steady hands. Once she has set the droid down, she glides them back to her waist to fold them over one another elegantly.   
No fool could mistake her manner for weakness. She doesn’t dither over her movements and she follows every action through deliberately. Her spine is straight and her shoulders rolled back. By her hip, the hilt of her lightsaber glints under the harsh lab lighting. Her padawan, Barriss, holds herself in much the same way. Practiced, swift, and steady.

The duo come alone, no clone commander shadowing their steps. A show of good faith you imagine. The Jedi Order and the state of Naboo have a history you are told.

“We fought it on Alderaan”, Master Unduli gestures to the droid with a sweep of her eyes. Blue, you notice. Dark, and framed by long lashes that cast the slightest shadow under her eye and tease the curve of her cheek. “It had different capabilities than the usual regiments of separatist droids we face.”

Beside her, a frown indents Barriss’s brow as she adds on to her Masters words. “It was stronger, more durable than others we have previously fought.”

You eye the droid from your position leaned against the bench. It’s chassis is big, bulky, and a battered chrome. It has no head and only half of its legs. Without conscious thought, you flicker your gaze across to peek at Master Unduli’s saber. 

Misil discusses the usual process and timeframe with the Jedi, while you start thinking about how to combat interference from Alderaani microbes that might skew the results. And then you scratch that, because what if the droid was manufactured on Alderaan? You narrow your eyes and cross your arms, staring at the droid. Perhaps samples taken from its exterior, and then samples from inside? A swab from its internal wiring for sure, to avoid contamination if the droid isn’t originally from Alderaan. What kind of medium will you need? Nutrient agar is a good all rounder base, maybe maltose for fungi-

“Hey? Hello? Anyone home?”

Misil waves her hand across your sightline and you jolt with a blink. Master Unduli and her padawan are looking at you expectantly and you flush, heat creeping up your neck and warming your ears. 

“Sorry, I got distracted,” you cough lightly to clear your throat, waving vaguely at the droid beside you ,and then clasp your hands together tightly.

Thankfully, Master Unduli sees fit to save you from your utter mortification and she offers you a close mouthed but genuine smile. “Thank you for time. We understand this process isn’t overnight, and so myself and Barriss will be staying at rooms in Theed. Should you require us for anything,” She pauses to incline her head at Misil. “You have my comm number”.

They leave as smoothly as they arrived, not a single stumble or forgotten final word. 

The room remains silent in the pairs wake. Opposite you at her own workbench, Misil lets out a deep breath and lifts her head to meet your gaze.  
“Those two…have a presence alright.”

Releasing an emphatic noise of agreement from your throat, you finally drop your shoulders and allow yourself to sag. 

The two of you lunch in the canteen. The lab is just far enough on the outskirts of Theed to make driving into the city for a hot meal just not worth the time. The canteen isn’t anything to sniff at though, and the tea and caf is free - you and Misils favoured brands too. 

Sipping at your respective mugs of tea, you sit in contemplative silence. Misils brow is furrowed in concentration and every so often she’ll squint sternly at her pasta as she spears it with her fork. Her fingers dance on the tabletop, tapping out rhythms while she thinks. Opposite her, you zone out and tap out your own quiet beat with the pads of your fingers. A crack of lightning will interrupt your brainstorming periodically and each time it illuminates the canteen wth brilliant white you gnaw at your lip. Your cottage is a long enough commute away, around half an hour from the labs. You don’t fancy the experience of driving that distance in your open top speeder while the weather is so violent. Biting into your sandwich with an unhappy huff, you push the dilemma from your mind to be solved by future you.

After your quick break, you both waste no time getting down to work. Misil carefully swabs a variety of samples from the chassis and then you pry it apart to access its inner workings. With all necessary samples obtained, you and Misil work together to lift the droid up and move it a workbench deeper in the lab, where it won’t get in the way. She seems to enjoy looking at its circuitry and it gives you a fond smile to see her enjoying herself. While Misil also loves working here, she has admitted to you before that she sometimes lacks stimulation in this job. You can understand and empathise with where she is coming from, but at the same time you can’t imagine a life other than the one you have crafted for yourself here on Naboo.

Later, as you climb into your speeder and don your helmet with a resigned sigh, you wonder idly if Master Unduli and her padawan escaped the furious rainfall successfully, if they made it to their rooms for the night without too much discomfort .Something pangs inside your chest, from inside that lonely little place behind your ribs. You wonder when next they will return to your lab.


	3. Chapter 3

It will take two weeks for the samples to fully incubate on the plates. The Jedi still room in Theed, and Misil comms Master Unduli regularly to give updates. Each time, she offers you the comm but you politely decline. You’d rather not make a fool of yourself in front of the cool and collected Master. 

You wonder why they stay. Usually when the Jedi Order commissions your labs assistance, the object to be studied is simply delivered by droid. When you are ready to discuss the results with the Jedi and assorted crew, you either holocall or the Jedi visits your lab for the briefing before promptly departing again. Perhaps Master and Padawan have another task to be performed on Naboo? Perhaps they are, rather simply, taking a break? A breathy chuckle slips from your lips at the notion, and you shake your head. There are no breaks during wartime.

Today is the last day of your work cycle this week and, checking your watch with a quick glance, you see your shift has just about reached its end. The weather is still moody and buckets and buckets of frigid rain periodically batter against the windows. But, you got paid yesterday and well, it’s been a while since you indulged in a good dose of retail therapy. 

Parking your speeder inside a garage complex, you transfer your credits to the valet droid and he gently sticks your parking ticket to your door with a trilling whir. With a pat to your pockets for a final comm, keys, and card check, you adjust your hood tight to your head and walk out of the complex and into the rain. Where first? A bookshop maybe? Yes, time for something fresh. 

Theed has many markets and sellers, and wonderful artisanal works. However, your favourite place to browse for a new book is a cozy little hole in the wall, in the older part of the city. The rain lessens as you splash through shallow puddles, and you are grateful for the respite but appreciative for the droplets all the same. Something about walking in the rain, feeling it mist on the tip of your nose, and the click of your heels on the flagstones makes you feel very much alive. Very much a person. Look what I feel! Look what I touch! 

You slip into an alley lit by lanterns hanging above, strains of vibrant ivy crawling across the smooth façade of the buildings cradling you on either side. Your arrival is announced by a gentle tinkling bell as you push your hood back from your face and lift your hands out from inside your coat pockets. The shopkeeper lifts her head from her holopad not to greet you, but simply just to see who is entering her shop. She never greets you hello or goodbye, in fact she only ever speaks to you to tell you your purchase total upon checkout. She is your favourite person in this city. 

The shop is quiet, warm, and always faintly smells like parchment and cinnamon. It spans two floors, each one generously sized wth towering shelves and ladders for browsing books unreachable by hand. Often, you will stumble across other customers inside but there is an unspoken rule not to great each other either. A nod, at most. It is perfect, not a soul to bother you or chatter idle nonsense as you seek out a tome. In the second floor, up the twisting staircase or the silent lift, right at the back is where you wander this time. You aren’t sure what you are looking for until your fingers brush across the cover of a heavy hardback. It is unassuming, with a black face and shimmering moonlighted thread binding it. 

Picking it up and cracking it open, its content takes you by surprise. There is no title nor author to commence with, but only an index page professing its topics and chapters. Chapter one: A brief history of the Jedi Order. Condensed into a light two hundred pages. Flickering through its pages takes considerable effort, accounting for its heft but the book definitely appears to be comprehensive - to say the least. Hardly easy reading for a sabbath morn, in any case.

When you go to place it back on its stack, something causes you to hesitate. A flash of a gleaming chrome hilt, dark veil gently swishing around poised shoulders.

You buy the book.

And also, you buy another cookbook because okay maybe you are just buying stuff for the sake of it! Live a little! As per usual blessed routine, the shopkeeper says nary a word to you, only a grunt of “fourty credits”. You offer her a fond smile and a murmur wishing her a good day, neither of which she returns, before placing the tomes inside a paper bag and slipping out into the rain once again.

You find yourself forking out for a bar of new hand soap, “infused with salve straight from the wilderness of Felcuia ma’am”, but who cares about that – it smells like perfumed flowers. Eventually your feet grow tired of perusing the market, and you begin to search for a tea shop to take your rest.

You settle on a place tucked off just to the side of the market, and a friendly Gungan seats you upstairs on the veranda, where you are sheltered by a canopy. Your seat grants you a wide view of the bustling market below, and you enjoy watching the people mill about as you sip your tea and lean back in your chair. A little Twi’lek child tugs on her fathers hand, longingly looking back at the stand selling fluffed candy. Two humans hold hands as they wind their way through the crowd, laughing at one another in soft delight. A Mirialan navigates her way through the throng too, stopping to exchange credits with a seller for sculpted chocolate flowers. Somewhere down there, a drum begins to beat- wait, a Mirialan?

She turns, and hands the flowers to the shorter woman behind her and yes, it is her. Master Unduli, her padawan Barriss in tow. She is smiling at her companion, crinkles at the corner of her eyes and the apples of her cheeks flushed a darker green. And then, her brow wrinkles by the slightest amount and she casts her gaze upwards suddenly. You cannot look away, even as you realise you should be embarrassed at being caught staring at her. Her gaze is magnetic, and you hold your breath without realising it. You catch the movement from the corner of you eye as she swallows, eyes still holding yours. And then she is gone. Leading Barriss out of the crowd and down another alley, long shadows trailing behind them. 

Letting out a shuddering breath, you pick up your mug to drain the last of your tea and find that your hands tremble.


	4. Chapter 4

You spend your rest cycle drinking mugs of hot drinks, lounging in your nightclothes, and watching sleepy daytime holos on the Naboo Public Network. Soft dappling raindrops tip-tap on the roof of your cottage and provide a soothing backdrop to the Gungans on screen, renovating a water garden. Your comm beeps occasionally from its spot behind your feet curled beside you. It’s Misil updating you on her family brunch and day out as it goes. You snort as you scan the latest picture she has sent you – posed smiling at the camera with her little sister, as her brother (still woefully a moody teenager) sulks in the background. 

You lift off the couch with a sigh and satisfying ‘crack’ of your back, before meandering over to the kitchen for a snack. You still have yellow rice leftovers from yesterday’s dinner and you wash the remaining dishes in your sink while you heat the rice up. As you potter around, your gaze falls on the book from yesterday, the tome concerning the Jedi Order. Your fingers twitch as you continue to look at it. You want to read it, you really do but- part of you can’t help but feel like it would be an invasion to do so. The Jedi aren’t secretive per se but they do keep to themselves. To read the book would feel like reading something private and unintended for your eyes. 

Letting out a huff of air from your nose, you push away from the counter and heave the book up and into your arms. Glancing around the living room and kitchenette area, you can’t think where to put it so that it won’t constantly draw your attention. You suppose you could return it to the bookshop in Theed but...despite not quite wanting to read it, you don’t quite want to get rid of it either. Eventually, you place it on the lowest shelf of your humble bookcase. Out of sight, out of mind - or so you hope.

The evening swoops in quick, riding on thick swathes of thundered clouds that block out the moon and starlight so thoroughly that when you tug your curtains closed, it is a relief to be hidden from that impenetrable darkness. You snag a chunky cardigan from your room to tug around your shoulders and ward off the chill and then prepare yourself some toast with jam to keep you full for when you go to sleep. Settling back down on the couch with your plate on your lap, you allow your thoughts to wander. 

The samples should be ready by next week. Then, you and Misil will have to identify the various microflora and organisms present on the plates and present a document for the Jedi. Where are these microorganisms usually found? In what conditions do they thrive? And from these places, where would be suitable for a droid manufacturing plant based off of the landscapes relief, climate, and nearby transport vectors. Then you will both have to present your findings to Master Unduli and her padawan. All in all, the process is a lengthy one.

It is easier to think of the droid in terms of swabs taken from its hide and guts, more palatable really, rather than thinking of how just how horribly big it is, even as just a torso. What must it look like at full capacity? What kind of hulking beast did Master and Padawan face so that it threw a shadow over them to recall the fight, even while it’s dismembered chassis laid slain on the workbench? It sends a shiver through you to dwell on such things, and your chest tightens despite your deepest breaths.

In your distracted state you miss how the wind begins to pick up outside and whistle and howl it’s displeasure. A weighty gust blows past the chimes on your porch with such a sudden and loud clang that you jump with the fright, and utter a pitiful whimper deep from within your throat. It is then that you decide that perhaps the best course of action would be to go to bed, and try to dismiss such unsettling thoughts from your mind.

What little sleep you manage to garner is wakeful, and haunted by gleaming chrome and burning ember eyes. An enemy that walks at the same steady pace while your feet begin to stumble.

Across Theed, meditating crosslegged in front of a roaring fire, Luminara Unduli gasps. The sound is so obtrusive in their quiet quarters that Barriss snaps her head up instantly, hand twitching towards her lightsaber.

“What is it Master? Is everything alright?”

Luminara sighs and allows her shoulders to relax once again. Offering a small smile to her padawan, she shakes her head. “All is fine Barriss. Just a chill.”

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Luminara allows her eyebrow to twitch before restraining herself lest she worry Barriss. It appears that the lab technician from the market is experiencing some anxiety about the droid. What Luminara doesn’t understand, is why the Force is making it her issue. Resuming her meditation, she hopes the other woman’s strange dreams and projection bode no ill omen for the future.

Resuming her kata, Barriss allows her eyes to narrow as she watches her master. There is something her Master isn’t telling her, she knows it.

Settled on a workbench deep in the back of your lab, on the left hand side of the droids chestplate, a little red light begins to ebb and flow.


End file.
